Cathey's Cajunated Grape Leaves

Cathey loves grape leaves but finds them dry for her taste at most restaurants — so she decided to Cajunate them, steaming them with tomatoes to keep them tender. She's been making them for 20 years now. Plenty of friends have offered to buy a batch, but because they're labor-intensive and take several hours, she only makes them for loved ones.

A note from Cathey: this is a difficult process because all the ingredients are raw and you can't taste anything before it's cooked. You also don't know how many leaves you'll get from a jar, or what size they'll be — one jar might be mostly small leaves, another all large. It takes a solid hour to roll and up to 3 hours to cook. So she sees why they charge so much for them.

Ingredients

• 4 lbs raw ground beef and lamb (Cathey uses 2 lbs beef, 2 lbs lamb)
• 2 cups wet raw medium grain rice
• Two 15 oz cans petit diced tomatoes, with juice
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 heaping tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp allspice
• 2 heaping tsp dried parsley
• 1 tsp dried mint
• 2 hefty tablespoons Greek seasoning (Cathey uses Cavender's)
• 2 tablespoons season-all of your choice (Cathey uses Freedom Fry seasoning from Targil, or use Slap Ya Mama)
• 1 heaping tablespoon onion powder
• 1 heaping tablespoon garlic powder
• ½ tsp red pepper
• 1 jar grape leaves (Cathey uses Orlando's from Cedar Market)
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 stick butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray an 11x14 glass dish with cooking spray. Spread half of one can of petit diced tomatoes with its juice on the bottom of the dish.
2. Remove the rolled grape leaves from the jar. This is tricky, so Cathey does it in a sink of water — careful not to tear any. Drain them and put the unfolded leaves on a large plate.
3. In a large bowl, mix the meats, the rice, and the other half of the can of tomatoes with juice. Add 1 tsp lemon juice, the cinnamon, allspice, parsley, Greek seasoning, half a cup of broth, your season-all, onion powder, garlic powder, red pepper, and half a stick of melted butter. Mix the meat mixture well.
4. On a large plate, place a grape leaf veined side up (non-shiny side) and fill with a cigar-sized amount of meat. Each leaf is a different size, so it's hard to give an exact amount. Tuck in the edges and roll tight — the meat should be tucked in tight. If a leaf is tender and tears, set it aside and roll a new one. Save the torn ones to cover the rolls at the end.
5. Layer the rolls in a row in the dish on the tomato slurry. Roll as many leaves as you can — you never know how many you'll get in a jar.
6. Pour the rest of the stick of butter over the completed rolls. Pour the rest of the tomatoes in between the grape leaf layers and on top. Use any leftover leaves on top. Pour the rest of the broth over top and cover with foil.
7. Bake at 350°F for 2½ to 3 hours. You're steaming them to cook the meat and rice. Cathey tastes one at the hour mark, then keeps tasting until everything is tender.

Cathey's Tips

• Serve with tzatziki sauce.
• They freeze very well. Freeze individual rolls on a cookie sheet, then shrink-wrap in counts you like — Cathey likes a 6-count for snacking or an 8-count for a meal. To use frozen rolls, defrost and microwave for a minute or two.

Recipe submitted by Foodies of Lafayette member Cathey Landry.